stephenson



(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.v

' J. STEPHENSON.

WHEEL BRAKE;

No. 412,560. Patented Oct. 8, 1889 I a mggi g y N. PETERS. P'wmu anphun Washington. RC.

N5 Modl.) Sheets-Sheet J. STEPHENSON.

WHEEL BRAKE.

No. 412,560. Patented Oct. 8, 1889.

.e R 3 Us n H H Q L O 8 Q.) 0 Q N 9w 3 U m U a Q q/vitmeo go W amvawko c ww fw N. PETERS. PhMv-Ulhngnphm, Washington. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WHEEL-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,560, dated October 8, 1889.

Application filed August 10, 1889. Serial No. 320,398. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN STEPHENSON, a citizen of the United .States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wheel-Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

In cars, especially those adapted for cable or electric propulsion, the wheel-brakes are most efficient when the shoe has no vertical motion, because but little shifting of the shoe is then required to relieve contact with the wheel. I provide means whereby the shoes are carried by slide-bars resting on the crossrails of What I term a diamond truck journaled to the car-axles without intervening springs or motion.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of sufficient of a tram-car to illustrate my inven-' tion. Fig. 2 is a plan.

The diamond truck consists of the two trucksills O 0, two cheek-sills F F, and two pairs of crossed rails H I, the central six sided well X, and side wells Y. The truck carries in each small well Y one of the half-sections of the Wheel-brake mechanism, consisting-of a rockshaft to, with its journal-bearings b c,secured to the truck-sill and cheelosill, the rock-shaft having a short arm don its upper side and a similar arm 6 at the under side, each arm with an articulated adjustable bar f connecting with the brake-shoe slide-bar g, which slidebars have at their outer or wheel ends shoes h for wheel contact. The slide-bars g rest on the composite cross-rails of the truck in diagonal keepers j, which allow to the slidebars freedom to move the brake-shoes to and from the wheels. Each rock-shaft has an additional arm 70 connected by a shoe-brake coupler-rod 'm with the coupling rock-shaft J, which unites the sections of the wheel-brakes in the small wells Y at opposite sides of the car-truck, and a single articulated rodn from the coupling rock-shaft to the brakemans handle K is adapted to convey his energy simultaneously to both sections of the wheelbrakes. The wheel-brake on the diamond car-truck is made to recoil by attaching to the rock shaft arm a recoil rod 19, shouldered against a spiral spring q, the rod continuing through the spring and through the loose end of one of the crossed rails against which the spring abuts, and after being crushed recoils and restores the brake to its inactive position.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown, I claim 1. A car-wheel brake adapted to a car-truck, having crossed rails passing the wheel-treads diagonally, and the shoe-bars sliding through diagonal keepers secured to the diagonal crossed rails, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A car-wheelbrake adapted to a car-truck, the brake mechanism attached to the trucksills, cheek-sills, and diagonal crossed rails, and the operating-lever of the brake located at the car-front, as and for the purpose described. V

3. A car-wheel brake on a truck with its diagonal cross-railssupporting shoe-bars, each shoe-bar carrying at one end a brake-shoe, with mechanism adapted to force the shoe against the car-wheel and again release the shoe by a rock-shaft-arm recoil-rod shouldered against a spiral spring, the rod continuing through the loose end of the cross rail against which the recoilspring abuts, whereby after being crushed the spring recoils' and restores the brake to its inactive position, substantially as and for the purpose described.

1 Iii testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN STEPHENSON.

Witnesses:

S. A. STEPHENSON, JosuPH B. STEPHENSON. 

